This is an interesting thread, from my point of view.

We have a cat and have had other cats in the past. I can certainly understand why Val feels as she does, so please don't take this as criticism; it is simple meant to be a comment on the different ways our countries seem to deal with cats.

We used to have a rabbit, when I was a child, and it was killed by a neighbour's cat, so I was angry about that, but cats are cats and most people, here, simply accept & ignore them.

Maybe it's because, over here, cats just roam free and come home as and when they wish ~ usually through their cat flap ~ that I perceive a different attitude.

Lots of cats come into my garden and I'm pretty sure that my cat goes into other people's gardens.

People may hate or love cats; people may try to keep them off their property, but people also seem to accept that cats do as cats do and that's just life.